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The average fully grown adult rhino can eat up to 120 pounds of vegetation in one day in the wild.

Chris Gee, animal supplies department manager at Chester Zoo, said: “Browse is an essential part of many zoo animals’ diet. We feed it to a whole host of species at the zoo including giraffes, elephants, rhinos, camels and porcupines.

Stewart Milne Homes has found a fun and sustainable way to re-use materials from its new developments, by donating them to Chester Zoo’s larger mammals (Image: Margaret Lawless)

“Indeed, as well as some fresh branches, the elephants will also chew on the left-over browse that the giraffes have had enough of. Then, when they’re done with it, it’s chipped and recycled into the soil.”

The housebuilder approached the zoo, which also grows and harvests browse sustainably on its estate, through its ecological management contractor Ecological Land Management Ltd.

John Lee, commercial manager at Stewart Milne Homes, said: “Clearing out the site was a big job to do and, across 18-hectares, we had a lot of shrubbery and clippings which were left over.

“Rather than let it go to waste, we approached the keepers at Chester Zoo who explained just how nutritious this type of vegetation is for some of their animals.